Occupational Choice Intention

University student are at the stage of exploration, and the main task during this period is to explore career choices in order to gain an understanding of the workplaces and choose the direction of future career path. Occupational choice intention refers to fresh graduates’decision-making attitudes or behaviors in deciding their preferences before entering the job market. In terms of groups and society, occupational choice intention refers to whether the integration and allocation of human resources in society are appropriate. Therefore, occupational choice intention is not only the decision-making processthatmeetsindividuals’aptitudes,abilitiesand interests,butalso their behavioral responses of self-growth and adaptation for the changes in the overall social, political, and economical environment. Holland (1985) suggested that individual career choice is the extension of personal traits. The process of career choice can reflect individuals’ personal traits. If the fitness between personal traits and work environment is higher,

individuals’job satisfaction willbehigherand they willnoteasily changetheirjobs. Career choice is the response exhibited when individuals face important career decision-making by combining their understanding with their judgment of education and external factors (Fouad et al., 2006). Herr and Cramer (1992) indicated that university students are at the key stage of career development, and have to face many major decisions concerning their future development, such as seeking jobs, thinking about life value, and getting married. The results of a national survey on the career needs of university students in the United States showed that more than 100,000 university students have a sense of uncertainty, and they need the instruction and assistance concerning career and education decision-making from schools (Luzzo, 1991). Moreover, a study indicated that university students are still uncertain about their future career direction at school, and they encounter barriers when making career choices, suggesting that it is important for schools to help students understand their personal traits and self-interests to make future career choices (Betz, 1994).

Previous studies have suggested that the main factors affecting occupational choice intentions can be divided into gender, academic achievements, professional skills and abilities, working experience, level of education of the parents, occupations of the parents, and the expectations of the parents. Farmer (1995) indicated that with the change of time and the efforts made by school education, the influence of gender on career choice has been reduced. However, it still has an influence. Hollender (1971) pointed out that the factorsaffecting adolescents’careerchoicesarerelevantto theiracademic performances at school. Sharf (1997) suggested that when facing career choices, interest is the most important factor. Chen (2000) conducted a study on the employment intentions of vocational high school students, and found that internship or work-study experience has an influence on career choices. In addition, 48.3% of the students suggested that it has a positive effect, but only 5.7% of them suggested that it has a negative effect. Monica

(2002) argued thatadolescents’stability offuturechoiceis significantly correlated with the occupations of their parents, and that their parents’ occupations and social status particularly have significant effects on their career choices. Otto (2000) studied senior high school students in the graduating class, and found that most adolescents share the same idea as their parents in terms of future career choice. Therefore, parents have an influence on the career choices of adolescents.

Occupational choice intention is also known as the career development tendency.

The concept originates from career choice. It refers to individuals’ decision-making attitudes to seek their preferences for various types of jobs after trying for a long period of time in various aspects, such as self-development, learning, family and jobs, and after accumulating experiences (Chang, 2000). Schein (1996) first proposed the concept of occupational choice intention. The studies from 1978 to 1990 suggested that individuals’ occupational choice intention can be divided into the following types, including:

1. Technical/functional competence: People with this tendency are inspired by the jobs they engage in, and what they care about is their professional field, including the techniques, functions and the job content, instead of the management process. If they are assigned to other fields, their satisfaction will decrease and they will try to return to the fields of their expertise.

2. General managerial competence: People with this tendency like rapid promotions.

They have the three competitive advantages, namely analytical ability (the ability to confirm, analyze, and solve problems in situations with uncertainty or insufficient intelligence, the ability to stabilize emotions (the ability to pull themselves together when encountering emotional or interpersonal crises or the ability to bear heavy responsibilities without collapsing), and interpersonal ability (the ability to affect, supervise, manipulate and control personnel of various levels in an organization).

3. Security/stability: People with this tendency attach importance to long-term job safety

and stability; hence, they tend to form a close relationship with an organization and become organization members. They are willing to accept the arrangement of an organization. To these people, it is usually more important to keep a stable and guaranteed job than to aggressively seek other promising jobs. Other people with this tendency intend to develop only in a specific area; hence, they only change jobs within this area.

4. Entrepreneurial creativity: People with this tendency enjoy taking adventures and trying new projects. They have a strong desire to create or establish their own empire, in order to prove themselves.

5. Autonomy/independence: People with this tendency care about the feeling of independence and autonomy, and they prefer making decisions on their own instead of relying on others. As these people concurrently possess strong technical/functional competence, they often decide to act as consultants, work independently or run smaller enterprises on their own.

Schein (1996) suggested that occupational choice intention is developed at the early stageofan individual’sdevelopment.Itguidesand controlsthevalueoftheentirelifeof aggressivethinking.Thisfactorwilldeterminean individual’scareer choice. Five main factorsaffecting people’soccupationalchoiceintentionsare listed below: 1) technical intentions; 2) management intentions; 3) security and stability intentions; 4) creativity intentions; and 5) independence and autonomy intentions. This study used these five factorsasthebasisto investigateuniversity students’occupationalchoiceintentions.